Doctor Brinner
Doctor Brinner was the alias of Edward T. Nikols (1923-1961), a radio personality for the Portland, Oregon-area talk radio station AM 1020: THE STUMP from 1958-1961. Doctor Brinner was renowned for his characteristically-maniacal voice, his grandiloquent speeches describing abstruse plans, and for the wearing of a pair of round, black goggles both during the show and in daily life. Some have said this last detail makes him the first Method Radio Personality, while others classify him as a Proto-Method Radio Personality, along with Boney Fleacollar from Columbus's AM 750 THE BUCK and Mack the Wife from The Twin Cities' AM 1300. Starting off as a one-off character in an episode of popular G.I.-chronicle radio show The Portside Trooper, D octor Brinner received his own show, The Doctor Brinner Mad with Power Hour, after an influx of positive caller feedback. Starting from the point of the discovery of the burned-up Sputnik 1 Satillite's reminents, The Doctor Brinner Mad with Power Hour dealt with his quest to harness the power of the Russian Spirit for his own selfish, enigmatic desires with the help of his untrustworthy side-kick, Migor. On his show, Brinner was the brunt of many jokes about shortsightedness (he would often bump into walls), absentmindedness, and his lacking personal life. Often musing on his many failures at the end of an episode, Brinner's most common catchphrase was "Lo, it was not meant to be!" Additionally, an overabundance of "Duck and Cover" jokes were made, leading to the introduction of a live duck on the show named Malt which would quack spontaneously and periodically during broadcasts. The Brinner show, hailed as a well-aimed and riotous satire of the Space age, gained great popularity over the years, peaking in 1960 with a story where he accidentally created a robot version of himself in his sleep. In fact, Nikols and the character of Doctor Brinner enjoyed a fair amount of local celebrity in the last two years of their existence, receiving guest spots on other shows and making appearances at local events. However, Brinner's rise to popularity lead to a decline in Nikols's health. In August of 1960, The Mad with Power Hour was expanded to airing new twice a day, resulting in Nikols having to devote more and more time on his radio duties. Nikols was hospitalized for exhaustion in November of 1960. When he was released after three days, he went straight back to working on his show despite being told by highers-up that it was "probably not a good idea." (It is reported that he responded by saying "What do you know? '' I'm'' the doctor here!") He took up drinking to relieve the pressure of increased workload. Upon the departure of Nikols's wife, Anika Nikols, in early 1961, he began to show signs of mental decline on-air: during one episode in March, Nikols broke down mid-speech into sobbing and was unable to finish the episode. He was shortly thereafter put back into a single hour-long show, but the damage had already been done. Late after recording on the night of Tuesday, May 23, Edward T. Nikols died in an automobile accident, with the cause of crash being attributed to alcohol. The Mad with Power Hour show was concluded over the duration of the rest of the week, with the exploits of Brinner being told retrospectively from the future point of view of Migor. Nikols was buried on May 28 in Historic Columbian Cemetery, with a tombstone reading the famous catchphrase of his character, "Lo, it was not meant to be!" A character named Dr. David Brinner was briefly mentioned in the webcomic MS Paint Adventures; it is unknown the relation of this character to Nikols's Brinner.